


Death Note Shenanigans

by TheCephalopodAgency



Series: Unfinished Snippets, The Series™ [11]
Category: Death Note (Anime & Manga), Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Dark Lance (Voltron), Death Note AU, Gen, Sort Of, but it's okay they're usually bad people, lance kills people
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-10
Updated: 2020-07-10
Packaged: 2021-03-04 17:53:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25180435
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheCephalopodAgency/pseuds/TheCephalopodAgency
Summary: Lance is a half shinagami and he has adventures in the space dimensionThis is unfinished and likely never will be, but it's been sitting in my files for actual years and i need to do something with it so.. you guys can have it if you want?
Series: Unfinished Snippets, The Series™ [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1097028
Kudos: 17





	Death Note Shenanigans

**Author's Note:**

> A sort of loose interpretation of Death Note and the Shinigami. Basically, Lance is a half Shinigami, and is required to write names in his book to survive. His Death Note doesn’t really work like in canon. The rules are the same in terms of how he can kill, but the effects are different on himself. Instead of taking their remaining years for himself he gains energy required to function relative to the amount of days left in their life. Like if he kills someone who had twenty years he would have enough energy to last him twenty days.
> 
> Since biology seems to allow everyone to be half something in this series I imagine it would work with Shinigami if they were technically aliens from a different reality inhabiting an Earth connected to Lance’s reality through a portal.

“Hey Princess,” Lance said suddenly at breakfast one morning. “What do we know about Zarkon anyway? Like, is that his real name? It sounds too edgy to be his real name, you know? And what does he even look like?”

“What does it matter?” Hunk yawned. “It’s not like we’ll be getting close enough to fight yet.”

“I just think it would be interesting to know this stuff. We should at least know what he looks like.”

“It’s not a bad thought,” Shiro agreed. “I’ve seen him before, in pictures. I can show you through a mind meld during training.”

“Yes!” Lance shouted mentally. Now he just needed to write the name. For the first time in a while he was eager to start training.

\---

Wow, Zarkon sure was ugly. And his lifespan was deliciously long. Killing him would save the universe and leave Lance sated for years.

\--

After memorizing his face, Lance thought about writing his name and testing it out, but as he scrawled the first few letters in the note, he stopped. If he killed Zarkon while the empire was still this strong, who would take his place? Someone he didn't know the name and face of, for sure. He reluctantly put the pen down after scratching out the letters.

“Take down the empire first.” Lance closed the notebook and tucked it under the junk in his drawer where nobody would find it. “Need to be smart about this.”

He wasn’t sure where the notebook came from, just that it was with him ever since he was a child. According to his mother he needed to write the names of people in the book while picturing their faces, and for a long time he did this without knowing that he was killing.

\---

He hadn’t known what it was or what it did until he was until he accidentally killed his teacher in first grade, and then the boy next door who pushed his sister and made her cry. He knew it was wrong but in the back of his mind he was satisfied with their deaths, which scared him.

At first he never planned to use it again. Killing two people should have repulsed him but he felt nothing, and that was what convinced him to get rid of it. He tried to throw the book away, but every time he shoved it in the trash can under layers of garbage or tossed it in the fireplace to burn it came back, always clean and new looking. He eventually gave up.

The notebook was unused for three years, until he turned nine, and nearly died. He was always very sick as a child, and years of illness finally caught up to him when he collapsed on his birthday. The doctor was convinced he was going to die. It was when everyone was asleep and he was alone that the notebook appeared in his lap. Almost robotically, he bit at his fingernails until they bled, and used a bit of the nail to scratch a name into the notebook.

The next morning the doctor was dead, but he was alive. His new doctor was dumbfounded when Lance was suddenly perfectly healthy. They couldn't figure it out but Lance understood. His life was somehow linked to the book. He didn't want to die, so the only option was to use it.

The notebook wasn’t the only weird thing about him. He looked at people he somehow knew their full name and how long they had left to live. They started to appear after he used the note to save his life in the hospital. At first seeing the letters and numbers floating over people’s heads was disorienting. Over time he got used to it, and eventually learned to tune it out. He never used this ability on people he cared about. It was better not knowing that.

It was easier when he killed. He would watch the news with his father and scribble the names of criminals with long life spans. The longer they had to live, the longer he could go without having to kill again.

In the castle he relied on the pictures of his chosen victims still on his phone. He had plenty of names stored away luckily, though he was starting to run out.

\---

He wa running low on names and getting to the point where he was afraid he might have to confess to someone, or risk death, when Pidge, the beautiful, brilliant genius managed to download a file of high ranking Galra officers, mostly useless to them, but to him, well… he knew instantly what to do.

\---

“This might scare the Arusians, but it’s not like they’ll get hurt…” Lance mumbled as he pulled out his copy of the officers. He picked one who looked important and started to write.

“Thanex, huh? A commander should know something useful.”

Within the next few weeks, Commander Thanex would compile any useful information he could easily gather and sneak off of his own ship, landing on Arus. After leaving his ship he would go to the village and demand the Arusians contact Voltron under threat of death. He would die of a heart attack shortly after demanding the Paladins go to Arus and fight him. They would see his ship clearly near the village and pillage it for information, hopefully finding something useful for the blades.

\---

“I’m not human,” Lance shrugged. “I’m half Shinigami.”

“You’re half god of death?” Shiro furrowed his brow. “That doesn't name any sense.”

“Shinigami aren’t actually gods. They’re aliens from a reality that intersects with ours. Sometimes they fall in love with humans and trick them into thinking they’re human too. I was the result of that.” He gestured to his whole body.

  
“You can tell when we’ll die?” Hunk gulped. “Oh man, that really doesn't help with my anxiety.”

“Are we going to survive this war?”

Lance held his hands up and shook his head. “Don't even think of asking me your life spans, I don't want to know. I’m not going to look to save us all some grief.” They looked somewhat relieved by that.

“You’ve been killing people this whole time?” Pidge swallowed roughly. They were all responsible for deaths, but that didn't mean they liked it.

“Heart attacks. I don't usually specify their cause of death. It’s easier that way…”

\---

“I only kill bad people. Any time a criminal suddenly died in prison it’s possible it was because of me. I accidentally killed two people when I was a kid, before I knew what the book was. I was using it as a diary. I didn't want to touch it ever again after I made the connection but it made me sick. The doctor even said I wouldn't survive, and the book appeared in my room. I wrote a name on instinct and I was suddenly healthier than ever before. I only use it if it’s necessary…”

“I can’t… you’re a murderer, Lance!”

“I was a sick little boy, afraid to die if I didn't write names in my book. It’s a part of who I am. You should be glad I’m not like other half shinigami. I’ve met some who use their books on whoever they want with no regard for the life they choose to take.” He was angry now. It registered briefly in his mind that his friends were recoiling in fear--- fear of him, but he was too angry to care.

“I’m _not. Human._ I survive on the stolen life force of other creatures If I don't take lives with my book I’ll die. The brain of a half shinigami is wired to summon the book and write a random name from memory when it's dying. It’s better for me to choose unforgivable targets than risk any random innocent person off the street or someone I care about.”

\---

“Look, we don't have to like it, but you have to admit it is useful. We could end the war in weeks if we made the right plan and took out the right people.”

“I dunno Keith,” Hunk rubbed his arm. “It _is_ murder…”

“I think the Blades would agree with me. We should tell them and they can give Lance names and we can stop anyone else from taking Zarkon’s place.”

\---

“Thanks for supporting me back there Keith,” Lance said with a tired sigh following shortly after.“

“I don’t really like the killing sentient creatures thing but you’re my friend and I trust you. I know you wouldn’t abuse it, you’re too nice.” Lance smiled weakly.

“Flattery won't get you anywhere, Keith.” Keith quirked his eyebrow.

“Knowing you Lance, it’ll get me everywhere.”

“Hey, what’s that’s supposed to mean?”


End file.
